S7 Working across cultures

Question 1

Global growth (context: eco, society, politics and power relations)

Answer 1

• Business experts Richard Judy and Carol D’Amico: “the rest of the world matters to a degree that it never did in the past.”
• International market: especially attractive as communication and transportation costs have plummeted
• Global markets mort connected than ever, (global financial and eco crisis 2008 in the US became a worldwide credit crisis)

Question 2

Domestic growth

Answer 2

• Workforce = diverse as well. New workers: wiil be older, likely to be female, more ethnically diverse.
• US case: “new entrepreneurs in the U.S. are increasingly diverse, with more than 40% of current entrepreneurs identifying themselves as African-American, Hispanic, Asian or other non-white.” (eco intelligence report)

Question 3

Report about specific role played by Latino/a entrepreneurs in this dynamic

Answer 3

• The number of Hispanic-owned businesses has been growing at an impressive pace over the last decade:
• 2002 1,6m
• 2007 2,6m
• 2012 3,32m
• 2015 4,07m
• Revenue for Hispanic-owned firms now exceeds $660 billion dollars (88% increase since 2007)
• U.S. Hispanic market is one of the fastest-growing in the U.S. (an increase of 50% in just five years!), which actually makes the Hispanic market as big or bigger than the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Mexico or Canada.

Question 4

Buying power of people with disabilities

Answer 4

• U.S. Census Bureau’s 2002 Survey of Income and Program Participation: 51.2 million people with disabilities in the US only.
• People with disabilities = the country’s largest ethnic minority group (over 18% of the U.S. population – larger figure than the % of Hispanics (13.3% in 2002, 17,6% in 2015))
• In 2002, more than 1/6 people in the U.S. were potential customers for businesses accessible to people with disabilities.
• People with disabilities form a large market on the global scale as well : estimated pop of 1.3 billion, they are an emerging market the size of China.
  + Their friends and family add another 2.2 billion potential consumers (emotional connection to people with disabilities).
• Companies seeking new markets and profits have a strong interest in attracting the spending of this increasingly powerful cohort – and some businesses have been doing just that over the last decade or so.
• Ex: improved access to advertising by deaf people led to changes in consumer behavior. When closed captioning became widely available to deaf TV viewers in 1980, 73% of deaf people switched to a brand that had TV ad captioning.

Question 5

Women also have more buying power today than ever before

Answer 5

• In the US, they drive 70-8°% of all consumer purchasing (combination of buying power and influence)
• Forbes analyst Bridget Brennan: “If the consumer economy had a sex, it would be female.”
• Women = the spenders and the earners
• “Multiplier effect” (Brennan): primary caregivers for children and buy on behalf of the people who live in their households, as welle as for extended family (older, in-law parents and friends)
• “Sheconomy”: captures women’s growing power and influence in eco.

Question 6

Women’s role in business leadership

Answer 6

• 2009 report from the Center for Women’s Business Research: 8 million U.S. businesses (most of them small businesses) were majority women-owned, employing more than 23 million people (16 percent of all U.S. jobs), and generating $3 trillion annually.
• Women-owned firms are not a small, niche market but are a major contributor and player in the overall economy.

Question 7

Social and political context: how events affect business encounters

Answer 7

• US case: 9/11 had tremendous effect on business encounters, domestically and internationally. Triggered confidence, downturn in the stock market, travel-related businesses lost money…
• SARS medical scare in the summer of 2003 also had a tremendous impact on business, as a number of U.S. companies canceled business trips and conventions in Asia and Canada.

Question 8

Events impacting intercultural encounters

Answer 8

• Lost opportunities for contact and even fear of contact or suspicion about potential partners.
• Ex: after 9/11, many examples of discrimination and prejudice toward Middle Easterners, sometimes denied boarding on planes or were refused services in businesses.
• During the SARS scare, some people refused to interact with or sit close to people who appeared to be from Asia, while business declined in Chinatown and incidents of harassment were reported.

Question 9

Discussions on immigration policies and reforms affect intercultural communication in businesses

Answer 9

• U.S. on May 1, 2006: thousands of immigrants and supporters participated in a nationwide event called “A day without immigrants.”
• Organizers asked immigrants to show their economic muscle by boycotting all aspects of commerce as a protest against the then-proposed immigration reform, which proposed to deport some 11 million illegal immigrants back to their country of origin.
• As thousands of Latinos/as stayed home, many businesses closed, either to show their support or because they did not have enough workers to sustain daily business.
• And while it is not clear what impact the walkouts and demonstrations have had on the U.S. economy, immigration issues affect intercultural business relations between immigrants and native-born citizens.
• If immigration policies are further tightened, some fear that employers may be afraid to hire immigrants, leading to more unemployment among immigrants.
• Increased anti-immigrant feelings may lead to increased discrimination against some specific groups (e.g., Latinos/as, Asians, etc.) in the workplace.

Question 10

Power issues in intercultural business encounters

Answer 10

• Common practice of outsourcing U.S. jobs to Mexico, China, and India: benefits for cheaper products for US consumer or loss of jobs for US workers
• Rarely considered: effects of this practice on Mexican, Chinese, or India societies and cultures.
• In these countries: the pressure to meet expectations of powerful American multinational corporations has often led local populations to change their language and cultural practices, for instance by teaching young kids American English in order for them to get a job.

Question 11

Intercultural communication

Answer 11

• Encounters with supervisors, subordinates and peers, customers and clients.
• Western businesses: customers and workers from diverse cultures but management ranks and boardrooms remain almost exclusively White males enclaves.
  => African-Americans = 12% of the workforce, 7% of officials and managers;
  => Hispanics = 16% of the workforce, 11% of the managers;
  => Whites make up 65% of the workforce, but about 75% of managers, and dominate even more among top managers.
• Those with the most privilege in business contexts may be unaware of the extent to which their positions afford them power

Question 12

Diversity has become a business imperative

Answer 12

• Most executives know they need a workforce that reflects the changing demographics of their customers.
• Companies: sell products and services globally, then need :
• a rich mix of employees with varied perspectives and experiences;
• top executives who understand different countries and cultures;
• executives around the world who intuitively understand the markets they are trying to penetrate.
  => Diversity can pay off in profit – through marketing opportunity, recruitment, creativity, and business image.

Question 13

New businesses in developing countries

Answer 13

• Mostly headed by non-White men/women: looms on intercultural comm patterns and practices.
• One CEO said: “If you want to compete globally, you have to understand that 80% of the globe isn’t white and 50% isn’t male.”

Question 14

Communication across power divides can be difficult

Answer 14

• When there is a cultural difference in how power is viewed or how power distance is expressed.
• Ex: cultural groups that believe in high power distance (India, Arab world) feel than an organization functions best when differences in power are clearly marked. When bosses act like bosses and workers act like workers, there is no confusion about which is which.
  By contrast, cultural groups that believe in low power distance (Northern European countries, Australia or the U.S.) often feel that power differences, though very real, should be minimized and than an egalitarian view is best.
  => Varying values concerning power dynamics and different behavioral expectations = communication challenges.

Question 15

Communication challenges in business contexts

Answer 15

• Discussion: globalization results a global business cultural where cultural differences no longer matter?
• Not happening: there are very few instances where culture does not matter at all.
• Communication challenges in business contexts: can reflect cultural differences in work-related values, language issues, communication styles, and business etiquette, as well as issues related to diversity, prejudice, and discrimination.

Question 16

Work-related values

Answer 16

• Individualism vs. collectivism
• Work and material gain
• Quality vs. efficiency
• Task vs. relationship priority

Question 17

Individualism vs. collectivism

Answer 17

• Countries with individualistic views: workers are expected to perform certain functions with clearly defined responsibilities: a clear boundary (frontière) exists between their job and another person’s job (Western cultures)
• In collectivist countries: the opposite in true.
• Ex: Japanese organizations do not necessarily define the precise job responsibilities assigned to each individual, but rather the job of a work unit, a section, or a department. The same is true for many Latin America and Southern European cultures, as well as many Asian countries, like China and India, in which people are much more apt to help another one another at work and to see less rigid lines between tasks.
• In turn, these cultural differences can present challenges to workers and management.
• Value differences: not always hard and fast, international business experts generally acknowledge that. With globalization, many of these differences are blurred. Ex: young business workers in Asia and other parts of the world are blending traditionally collectivist practices with more individualistic beliefs.

Question 18

Work and material gain

Answer 18

• Europe & USA: hard work is a virtue that will eventually pay off.
• Other cultures: work is no more than a necessary burden. Ex: Mexicans consider work a necessary evil, needed to earn enough money to live and, if possible, to have enough left over to enjoy the really important things in life: namely, family and friends.
• Cultural groups that see work as having a low priority: because work is necessary and takes up most of the daylight hours, ways should be found to make it more agreeable by creating a convivial workplace.

Question 19

Quality vs. efficiency

Answer 19

• Americans: efficiency and getting the job done for the lowest cost are the ultimate goals (less appreciation for history and time, adopt shorter perspective than European businesses). More emphasis on the practical aspects of products, in the history of the European settlers, things had to be done expediently.
• French: in business one should not worry so much about whether a product is competitive, as long as it is well designed and elegant.
• Germans: insist on quality, as both producers and consumers. Advertising argument for a number of German auto companies (“Deutsche Qualität”). Quality may come at a high price, but the German view is that people will pay for the best quality and that as a worker it is important to do the best job on principle.
  => In German and American work settings, conflict can arise when Americans would rather produce something expediently than elegantly.

Question 20

Task vs. relationship priority

Answer 20

• Whether the highest priority is placed on relationships or on task completion.
• Europe & US: most important thing is to accomplish the task, not necessary to like the people one works with.
• Other cultures: work gets done because of relationships.
• Ex: in China, where personal relationships have long been vital for business success – although this is changing dramatically along the country’s economic development. Special term: guanxi = a personal bond that goes beyond social and cultural connections. The Chinese do not differentiate business from friendship, personal relationships (guanxi) must be developed in order to be successful in business.
• These differences can cause much frustration in international work settings.

Question 21

Language issues

Answer 21

• International business is sometimes conducted in English even when none of the participants speak English as a first language.
• Ex: Icelandic companies doing business in Spain, France, and India. Each country’s = particular language challenges. In India, accent was a problem: Icelanders have a Scandinavian accent and the Indians have different accents depending on their first language. Communicating with the Spanish and the French posed different challenges: Icelanders less reticent about using English than their French and Spanish counterparts. French and Spanish often reticent to explicitly discuss misunderstandings or problems: if they did not understand something, they would not immediately ask for clarifications, but would carry on with the work, in some case even avoiding the Icelanders. In consequence, the language problem only became evident later, when projects were not completed on time or other difficulties arose. The Icelanders were not sure if this reticence to speak up was because of their discomfort with speaking English, or because of a preference for a more indirect or high-context communication style.
• This example points to a common problem in intercultural communication: one cannot always be sure of the cause of the problem!

Question 22

Important suggestion: to speak simple but not simpleminded

Answer 22

• Non-native speaker can better understand language that is spoken slowly and clearly, and that includes no big words.
• One should also be reminded not to be condescending in tone, not to raise one’s voice, and not to crowd too much into one sentence, as well to pause between sentence, to avoid slang and jargon, and to be careful with jokes – in other words, to be “culturally sensitive.”
• More and more business interaction occurs online: it is worth considering special language issues in cyberspace. Communicating by e-mail may be preferred when there are language challenges, because it allows speakers the time to craft their messages and eliminates misunderstandings due to accent and other paralinguistic cues.

Question 23

Communication styles: direct VS indirect context

Answer 23

• Direct communication style simply ask for information from the appropriate person
• People with an indirect style might not feel comfortable giving the information, particularly when a problem exists and there is need to save face.
  Ex: in African business settings, intermediaries are often used to smooth business dealings.

Question 24

Communication styles: high VS low-context style

Answer 24

• Low context: Northern Europeans and U.S. Americans prefer to make the information very explicit – that is, expressed in words.
• High-context communicators (many Asians and Africans) prefer to communicate more of the message nonverbally or contextually.
• Ex: the Icelanders (mostly low-context communicators) ran into problems into communicating with their partners. The majority of the conversations between Icelandic and French employees were by phone, which therefore excluded most of the nonverbal (i.e., high-context) communication cues, such as hand gestures, facial expressions, and body movements. But this lack of nonverbal cues was challenging for the French as well, as they found it difficult to establish effective and trusting relationships with the Icelanders because of the lack of opportunities to communicate face to face.

Question 25

Communication styles: honesty VS harmony

Answer 25

• Honesty is not always the best policy in intercultural business contexts, as form and social harmony may be more highly valued.
• Ex: Koreans take considerable care not to disturb one’s kibun, the sense of harmony or “wellness” in a person. They will hold back, delay, or “adjust” bad news to avoid upsetting a person’s kibun. This is not considered dishonest, as kibun takes priority over accuracy.
• Relational harmony is also important in China and, in fact, sets the standard for communication. Communication scholar Wen Jia: “The kind of communication behavior best at creating and sustaining harmony is regarded as the most effective and most competent communication in Chinese culture.”
• The focus here is not on truth but on achieving relational harmony, which in many Asian countries includes the notion of facework, namely the importance of saving another’s face.
• U.S. Americans tend to focus on saving their own face – that is, maintaining self-pride, reputation, and credibility.
• For many Asians, the concept of saving face is more about interdependence, achieving mutual honor and respect, not focused just for the individual but for the larger group, the family, or organization. In a business context, this may mean allowing other persons room to maneuver, and not saying the unvarnished truth.

Question 26

Business etiquette

Answer 26

• U.S. Americans tend to be less formal in business contexts than most cultural groups are.
• Ex: Europeans greet each other formally with a verbal greeting and a handshake.
• Latin Americans attach great importance to courtesy in business settings (set of behaviors is expected: ritual handshaking with and greeting of staff members each morning).
• The same in many African countries: high-level officials and business executives expect to be treated with the solemnity and respect due their position.
• Protocol must be observed: in many countries, at official dinners, no one eats or drinks until the higher-ranking people do, and no one leaves before the highest-ranking guests do so.

Question 27

Avoid excessive familiarity when conducting business

Answer 27

• This emphasis on formality can extend to language use. Ex: the formal form of “you” (Usted) is widely used in business contexts in Spanish-speaking Central and South America, except with personal friends, and it is generally considered proper to address a person by his or her title.
• The French also do not like informality, the use of first names, or anything that smacks of familiarity or lack of respect.
• This is also true in business settings in francophone Africa, where language is more formal and flowery, and titles are necessary – ex: “Monsieur le Président,” “Monsieur le Directeur,” or “Monsieur le Conseiller.”

Question 28

Business cards, giving a professional title and academic credential

Answer 28

• In Italy, with the famous “Dottore”!
• Japanese perfected business card etiquette: when people present cards to a Japanese business professional, they hold the card with both hands so that the other person can read it, and then bow and give their name. If they are presenting cards to several people, they start with the highest ranking.
• Similarly in China, when people receive someone else’s card, they should use both hands, bowing and thanking the person for the opportunity to meet him or her, and it is considered rude to put the card away immediately.
• Business cards are also important in most African business settings, and the more elaborate the better: the fancy cards indeed indicate that you want to stay in touch.

Question 29

Intercultural relationship building

Answer 29

• 2006 study asking suggestions for developing good comm and business relationships. Answers: relationships are important but:
  -Those from individualistic cultures (i.e., Europeans, New Zealanders, and South-Africans) tended to see relationships as central to achieving business goals.
• Managers from collectivist cultures (i.e., Chinese and Indians) saw relationships as more worthy just in themselves. They also gave many suggestions: getting to know colleagues and clients in one-on-one or larger meetings, and emphasized building trust and reciprocal behavior as important general processes.
• New Zealanders and South African managers take an egalitarian, informal, direct approach to developing business contacts and the follow up, keeping in touch in more impersonal public meetings. They use a direct but flexible communication style, founded on a win-win approach that is also embraced by many North American business people.
• On the other hand, Chinese managers emphasize the need for building guanxi, offering assistance often in indirect ways through a third party, and then building the relationship to a friendship – always on an interpersonal, one-to-one basis. This more indirect, interpersonal style is embraced by business people form many Asian and Latin/South American countries. They prefer building relationships one-on-one, and are always careful to respect hierarchy.

Question 30

Hierarchy

Answer 30

• Respect symbols of authority, to know whose views may carry more weight and whose opinions must be asked before decisions are made.
• Ex: a senior manager in Japan will not be considered just a manager by a new recruit, but will be looked up as a teacher.
• Similarly, German managers have extensive power, and their employees generally accept the authority and don’t argue.

Question 31

Diversity, prejudice, and discrimination

Answer 31

• The language and communication style of those holding the most power is often the desired form of communication.
• Until recently in US: one dominant culture with a corresponding style of communication: the (in)famous WASP culture (White, Anglos-Saxon, mostly Protestant) and, should we add, male.
  => this culture emphasized directness, honesty over harmony, and task completion over relationship building. Consequence: individuals who held other values and used different communication styles often didn’t fit in – or worse, were not hired or promoted.

Question 32

Prejudice and discrimination based on personal characteristics

Answer 32

• Ex: names (Barack Hussein Obama?), physical appearance, or skin color.
• Discrimination may begin even before one is hired (debates about anonymous CVs and similar practices)
• Business experts argue that discrimination based on race/ethnicity and gender now exists more at higher levels of organizations, where criteria for advancement are more subjective (where it depends more on who you know, than on your specific job skills).
• In turn, these discrimination practices may be one explanation for the problem of retention of minority workers in high-level jobs.

Question 33

Diversity action polices: statutes

Answer 33

• Statutes direct companies to hire a certain percentage of women and minorities. Affirmative action also has downsides.
• Ex: women and minorities may be troubled by the question of whether they are viewed as having been given advantages. For many people, affirmative action is troublesome.
• Although they began as a way to address past discrimination, the focus now is on reverse discrimination, with majority members claiming that they are being disadvantaged by affirmative action.

Question 34

Most organizations define diversity as having the right racial composition and think that if they get it, then everything is fine.

Answer 34

• Experts say that diversity should be much more than that: it should be used as a resource to be more effective as a business.
• Studies show that companies that value, encourage, and ultimately include the full contributions of all members of society have a much better chance of succeeding – and profiting.
• Experts argue corporations must do two things:
  1) Discard the assimilation myth (the idea that everyone should share the same cultural practices);
  2) Separate job requirements from personal preferences (ex: by asking oneself “Can I work with people who are qualified that are not like me?)